Movie Review - Train To Busan

Train To Busan

2016

The Cast

I had this movie sitting on my "YouView" box for quite a few months, even though I had been originally excited that Film4 had decided to air this "little" Korean gem of a horror movie. There had been rave reviews and more than a slight "buzz" about the picture. The trouble with me is that I've been let down by hyped movies before - The Blair Witch Project, a major case by example. Another trouble is my own little foibles. I don't want to be reading subtitles when I'm tired (and I do so love to watch horror flicks after the sun has set with the lights low... or off!) and I cannot stand dubbed films (too many Jackie Chan movies in my youth...). So one night, not so very long ago I was feeling awake enough to read a movie so I hit play on "Train To Busan"...

By the time the end credits rolled I was amped up and wide awake. This is one hell of a rollercoaster ride of a movie and one hell of a tangle of modern-day lives story. This is not your basic Zombie flick.

You start out really slowly and pretty sedated. A farmer is on his way to the market when his van is stopped by men in hazmat suits. These tell him that there's nothing to worry about. There has been a slight leak at a chemical plant. After quickly decontaminating his vehicle they send him on his way... unluckily for the dear he runs down and kills. More angry at damaging his van than killing a dear he drives away leaving the carcass in the road... yeah... you know what's going to happen. Sure enough, the dead animal thrashes about and shakily gets to its feet... with a dead look in its eyes...

Even though this section only takes a few minutes it's one of the most superbly shot sequences I've seen in a movie. The director Yeon Sang Ho manipulates each set perfectly give the audience a creepily eerie atmosphere, which did start the shivers running up and down my spine. For that I thank them... it's been a long time since that's happened. There's nice steady sweeping camera pans. Effortlessly worked lighting. Superb control of sound... or lack of it. Even better is that all of this artwork and skill doesn't stop here it runs throughout the whole movie. It screams skill and class
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Then the writers, Park Joo Suk and Yeon Sang Ho, get to work weaving together tales of modern-day living. The main characters are Seok-Woo (Gong Yoo) and his daughter Soo-Ann (Kim Su An). He is a busy, work-comes-first-to-support-family guy who was already lost his wife to divorce and is now bringing up Soo-Ann, with the help of his mother. Soo-Ann is a young child who doesn't understand or appreciate her father's outlook on life. All she knows is that she doesn't see either him or her mother as much as she wants or should. She wants more time with both of her parents. So, on her birthday, after her dad buys her a repeat present (who doesn't need two Nintendo Wii's(?)) she gets him to promise to take her to see her mum for her real present. As is the usual case it's Su-An Kim's performance that steals the show - and this is as it should be.

This then brings them into contact with Sang-Hwa (Ma Dong Seok) and his very expectant wife Seong-Kyeong (Jung Yu Mi). Sang-Hwa and Seok-Woo do not get on at all and it's this juxtaposition in ideals and prerogatives that add more depth to the story; especially when they have to work together to survive the train ride. It's Seong-Kyeong that provides the glue to their relationship.

Add to this a mysterious homeless man (Choi Gwi Hwa), a couple of romantic teens getting to grips with their feelings towards each other - Yong-Guk (Choi Woo Sic) and Jin-Hee (Sohee), and officious self-centred train manager Yon-Suk (Kim Eui Sung), you have a set of characters which can create some volatile or sentimental storylines... and this is before we get to the best Zombies... EVER!

One of my favourite zombie flicks is Return Of The Living Dead. Two of the reasons were the zombies - they were dead and very icky (most were skinless)... and they were fast. The brain-eating buggers didn't shamble after you. And you have the same here. Though these dead aren't so skinless they are damned fast and furious.

This adds to some pretty spectacular action scenes in the movie which Yuen Sang Ho directs magnificently. But, whereas, most directors would opt for action over horror and story Yuen is proficient in all styles. The scenes where the dead reanimate are both startling, invigorating, eerie, and full of style and strength.

This is a tour-de-force of filmmaking, let alone horror filmmaking. Everything in this movie is excellent, from the story to the acting to the directing. This was nearly a 10 out of 10, however, because some of the scenes get a little cheesy or stereotypical (for me) I rated it a little less.

To all movie fans out there and horror fans alike - this is a must watch movie.

I give this movie a Ferocious Bite Of Excellency of 9.75 out of 10.

The Trailer

This is the dubbed English trailer and shows how a film can suffer with voice overs.  This is now the reason I watch subtitled movies.

Here's the subtitled version.  Amazing how much better it already appears in its natural language and voices.

Movie Review - The Sentinel

The Sentinel

1977

The Cast

Alison Parker (Raines) is a working model who is not yet ready to marry her boyfriend Michael (Sarandon) and who needs to find a place of her own to get her mind and thoughts right.  However, the city isn't cheap and Alison is about to give up when she comes across an apartment in an old house.  The house and the apartments inside are in the process of being renovated, giving her the opportunity to rent for a reasonable amount.  However, once there, things start to get strange... not only are the other tenants peculiar in the way they act and behave towards her... but she starts to get a feeling of apprehension and a sense of being watched... there's something not quite right with this big old house and it may have something to do with the priest in the top apartment; though he's blind he spends every hour sat in front of his window looking out over the city...

Michael Winner opted to go the route of the original Rosemary's Baby with this little "Big" horror flick of good versus evil.  The entire atmosphere of the film is reminiscent of Polanski.  Even the camera work, at times, has a similar feel.  However, it's Winner's direction and use of actors that make this a more enjoyable affair.  I have to admit I found Rosemary quite boring, though it was nicely shot and had a decent cast.  Winner injects a little more action and tries for a more ominous and eerie atmosphere, which he doesn't quite pull off.

Another positive is the story, based on a novel by Jeffrey Convitz (which I now want to read as the movie had so many elements that could only be expanded and improved upon in written form), as this has more than a few twists and turns along its way.  It would have been nice to see some of these utilised a tad better as it could have made for a stronger movie.  Though, back in '77, movies were frowned upon when they went over an hour and a half, which probably meant quite a few bits of celluloid on the floor.

As for the actors, well the cast is massive for a horror flick.  Granted the big names are in supporting roles, though this is a good ploy by Winner, as the story is mostly revolving around the occupants.  We have Burgess "WARK! WARK!" Meredith as the enigmatic and gentlemanly Charles Chazon; Sylvia Miles and Beverly D'Angelo as the uninhabited lesbians Gerde Engstrom and Sandra; and as the omnipresent blind priest Father Halliran we have John Carradine.  But the names don't stop there, and Winner has a good eye for up and coming talent as there's Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Dreyfuss thrown into the mix for good measure.

However, though the cast is great it's too big.  There are too many characters knocking about and this gives the entire film the feeling of being crowded.  This would work well in a novel as there's more space to work in.  However, in the confines of an hour and a half, it may have been better to reduce the cast to essential characters and built on them a little more, giving them more depth and making the film stronger in the process.

That said, I will say this is worth at least one watch, especially if you're an old-school-horror fan who likes the religious good versus evil twist... or if you just want to give zombies and wimped out vampires a miss...

I give this a Blind For God Creepy 6 out of 10.

The Trailer

Movie Review - The Hills Have Eyes

The Hills Have Eyes

2006

The Cast

There's not much difference between this remake and the 1977 original.  A family of campers have decided to drive across America.  Unfortunately for them, this includes the desert, wherein the 1950's the army carried out a series of nuclear tests.  After stopping for gas, and inadvertently offending the station attendant, he tells the group of a shortcut through a valley in the hills...  Just as it starts to dawn on them that the shortcut is turning out to be a long drive, their tyres blow out...  This is a 50th wedding anniversary they'll remember until they die... which won't be long...

This may sound disrespectful of Wes Craven, but the best thing about this film, by far, is the direction.  Alexandre Aja, who had only previously directed the acclaimed, magnificent, and one of my favourite films, Haute Tension, does the story proud.  His eye for panoramic shots and the ability to create an atmosphere of aloneness with them, and then his use of the nuclear-blasted "Little America", complete with creepy mannequins, creates a really uneasy eeriness that's exactly what the story needed.

Also opting to get rid of the dreadful electronic soundtrack was a bonus.  This was a major hindrance to the original.  Without it, the excitement is created in different ways;  camera shots, angles, lighting, acting, and sound effects.

The other nice thing was the cast... though a cameo by Michael Berryman wouldn't have gone amiss.  There are a more than a few solid actors in the film.  Ted Levine as Big Bob the ex-policeman and father of the group.  He gives a solid reliable performance in a supporting role, though he's yet to come across a role as meaty as his Buffalo Bill Silence Of The Lambs character.  His wife, Ethel, is played by the beautiful and talented Kathleen Quinlan.  Though the stand out characters is Tom Bower as the gas station attendant, Robert Joy as Lizard - he really does appear to enjoy this role, Dan Byrd as Bobby, and Emilie De Ravin as Brenda.

Also, the special effects have moved on a long way from 1977... instead of the bright red blood which flowed copiously back then, we have a more realistic crimson, which gets slashed, gouged, and blasted insanely all over the place.  Not only do the hills have eyes, they also run red...

This is how a remake should be made.  It was brave of Aja not to change the story but to bring it up-to-date, not just in the story but also with the filming techniques.  Aja, just adds his skill into the mix and the outcome is beautiful, brilliant, and spooky as hell enjoyment.  Because of this, I would recommend every horror fan or wannabe to check this out rather than the original 1977 film.

I give this Re-Dux a Nuke-Blasted Mega Mutation of 7.5 out of 10. 

The Trailer